


Chapter 1

by Wire Bird (orphan_account)



Series: Unsweetened Chocolate [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi, beginning of an anxiety attack, mention of anxiety, missing character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 00:51:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7596928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Wire%20Bird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Willow's been out sick for almost a month, and Loraine's getting extremely concerned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank for being patient, guys. This chapter is shorter than what I hope the average to be. I procrastinated, big time, and it's a habit I'm hoping will go away if I work hard enough.

Loraine always kept her eyes locked on the ground while walking through the campus. It didn’t matter if the campus was completely deserted or bustling with people, she always walked with an insecure and inferior air so she wouldn’t be noticed. She considered herself to be rather well-camouflaged, since she hadn’t gotten into one single fight all year. Not even a serious argument, at least not with a stranger.

She always kept this quiet and unassuming life, until Willow burst right into her life and started to change her without even knowing.

Willow had started to come to the library every morning since their first encounter, seemingly waiting or searching for Loraine. According to her, this wasn’t true at all, but Loraine had her doubts. She wasn’t a conceited person, and she most certainly didn’t believe Willow had a thing for her, but… In all honesty, that would be nice for multiple reasons. Knowing that someone like Willow, someone with such a large reputation, actually cared about her made her heart swell each time she thought about it.

One day, Loraine rushed into the library on a rainy Saturday two hours later than when she usually arrived. The first encounter had been two weeks ago, and since then, the two would always stumble across each other in the library in the mornings when neither of them had early classes.

Clutching her messenger bag to her side, she hurried over to the art corner.

“Willow?” she asked hopefully upon seeing a black-clad figure sitting in one of the bean bag chairs. However once she stepped closer, she realized that wasn’t Willow. People hardly ever came into this section of the library, so who was this and why had they come here on a Saturday morning?

The figure looked over their shoulder and Loraine caught sight of a set of very pretty brown eyes, but not the eyes she knew.

“Oh, are you the girl who comes here every day?” The figure stands, and Loraine sees a male figure with soft brown fringe and sweet brown eyes dressed from head to toe in black.

“Yes,” Loraine manages to say. Her eyes continued to sweep over the boy’s features, over the dimple that appeared in his cheek and his eyes crinkled as he smiled apologetically at her.

“Willow told me to let you know she’s feeling pretty ill,” the boy said simply. “She probably won’t be coming to meet you for the next few days.”

“Oh. Thank you for telling me,” Loraine answered politely, subconsciously sweeping a hand through her dark brown hair. She had just gotten it cut short the other day, and was willing to admit to herself that she wanted to see Willow’s reaction.

“Well, see ya around.” With, the boy left.

Loraine stretched and dropped her messenger bag next to the bean bag chair closest to her, not exactly sure what to do. She had read most of the books in the art corner by now, so most mornings she just sat and chatted with Willow for hours.

She decided there wasn’t much of a point in staying, and left. The rest of the day was pretty boring as she didn’t have any classes until four in the afternoon.

Walking through the quiet campus gave her some time to think. She hadn’t gotten a lot of time to just think lately, with her classes and homework and Willow cluttering her schedule. She thought long and hard about the relationship she had with Willow, and decided that she was happy to let it stay the way it was.

She didn’t need anything more than this, not if Willow didn’t want things to escalate. Loraine stopped walking and shook her head lightly.

Why am I thinking about this? I’ve already noted that I don’t have feelings for her. She’s just got a pretty face, Loraine told herself in her head. Come on, she couldn’t be that pathetic. She’s in university, she doesn’t have remotely enough time to have a relationship or even a silly crush.

“Get your mind back on track,” she muttered to herself aloud without realizing. Thank goodness the halls were almost completely empty.

For about a week or two, the library was completely deserted whenever Loraine came in. She concluded that Willow must’ve been really ill to be out for almost fourteen days. Communication between the two was completely cut off in those two weeks, since they hadn’t exchanged phone numbers yet. Loraine convinced herself to ask for Willow’s phone number the next time they saw each other.

However, Willow’s sick days continued. Loraine counted each day on her calendar, every minute in the empty library piling up on her anxiety. After twenty-five days, Loraine started asking around about Willow’s whereabouts. She got quite a few strange looks, and several of her peers just told her to fuck off and stop worrying about someone like Willow.

When she ran to her few close friends after yet another week had gone by, she was on the verge of panicking. Her professors hadn’t been any help, nor had some of the people Willow had been seen with often before her disappearance. Perhaps her friends could offer some information, and if not, maybe a shred of comfort.

They’d all been drifting apart due to the enormous work load dropped on their shoulders in the second semester of university, so Loraine thought a little reunion would be nice.

Apparently not.

Shane arrived at the library first. Then Laura, then Dot, and finally Nicholai. They were all sat around a circular table on the library’s balcony, none of them speaking.

Nicholai, as always, was enjoying the quiet. Loraine knew he savored silent moments like these. Shane was bouncing his leg nervously, his hand inching closer to his bag where all his textbooks lied. Dot looked very similar to a zombie, with circles under her eyes that seemed to share coloration with her black hair. Laura, Loraine’s closest friend out of the bunch, wouldn’t stop staring at her. Loraine knew she had caught on, since she had a ton of friends in all different groups of people. Word must’ve spread about Loraine’s search.

Laura was the one to end the silence, earning an annoyed glance from Nicholai.

“Lain, I know something’s wrong. I’ve heard that you’re going around looking for some girl who’s been out sick for weeks, are you alright?” she asked gently.

“No, no I’m not!” Loraine burst out. She was ready to spill everything; these four people were the people she trusted most. “Willow’s been out for a month! She hasn’t come to the library, her professors won’t reveal anything, her friends won’t reveal anything, and I have no clue what’s going on!”

“Slow it down, Lain,” Nicholai said quietly. He reached across the table, trapping Loraine’s hand in his own comfortingly. “She’s probably just got the flu, or pneumonia, or something like that. She should be back any day now.”

“But then wouldn’t someone have told me that by now?!” Loraine yanks her hand away, instead drumming her fingers against the table restlessly. “It’s all so suspicious!”

The table remains quiet as gears start to turn in Loraine’s head. “It’s suspicious, y’know? No one’s telling me where she is, not even her best friends, who were surprisingly nice… some of them, anyways… It’s like everyone here is sworn to secrecy! What’s going on?”

“Lain, you need to calm down,” Dot told her urgently. “Keep your voice down, please. I know you’re worried but.. We’re in a library, girl.”

“As if I care about that right now,” Loraine spat. “By now I would’ve expected a fucking missing flyer to be pinned up on the university board!”

Loraine would’ve stuck around, she would’ve listened, she might have even calmed down, if it weren’t for the look shared between all four of her closest friends at that moment. She knew that look, it was the look parents shot at each other when their kid is raving about something that’s being kept secret from them. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back as Loraine got up, her chair squeaking loudly against the wood flooring, and stormed out. She stomped down the stairs and broke into a run until she reached her dorm.

Slamming the door behind her, she looked around desperately for a moment before sitting down on the couch, her entire body starting to shake.

Clearly something was going on, and Loraine needed to know. She needed to know where Willow was.

**Author's Note:**

> That's it for the first chapter! Oooo it's so suspenseful already. To me, this feels more like a chapter 2 while the prologue is more like a chapter 1. I might change them up to match, but for now it's staying. I just think that establishing a conflict that's this heavy this early in the story isn't a good idea. It's something I would save for chapter 2 under normal circumstances, but I guess my mind was set on a second chapter. Oh well.


End file.
